US airlines on-time rating improves from a year ago despite storms that caused long delays

WASHINGTON — The latest government report shows airlines doing a little better at arriving on time.

The Transportation Department said Tuesday that 80.5 percent of flights operated by the leading airlines were on time in May, up from 76.9 percent in May 2014.

But the on-time rating was down slightly from April's 81.8 percent, and 16 flights were stuck on the tarmac longer than federal rules allow. Ten of those flights were on the same stormy day at Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston.

Hawaiian Airlines, Alaska Airlines and Delta Air Lines had the best on-time ratings, while Spirit Airlines had the worst. Nearly two of every five Spirit flights arrived at least 15 minutes behind schedule, and the low-cost airline was chronically late for two straight months on four routes to or from Dallas.

Spirit also had the highest complaint rate among the 14 airlines covered in the report, followed by Frontier Airlines.

Envoy Air, which operates many American Eagle regional flights, canceled 3.7 percent of its flights, the highest rate among the reporting airlines.